Trivia: For the rest of his life, according to his daughter Dena, if someone recognized Danny Kaye in public, they would approach him and recite the film's "pellet with the poison" rhyme.
The Court Jester (1955)
1 trivia entry
Directed by: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Parker, Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns
Other mistake: The catapult on the battlements Jean uses to evict the castle guards is rather curious. First, there is neither a bow nor any torsion to 'power' the weapon, and secondly it just seems to cock itself, right after each shot. All that Jean does is pull the lever and none of her diminutive helpers stand by for any cocking work whenever the catapult arm is shown.
Hawkins: After months of pleading for just this kind of action, what makes you think that anybody, anybody could make me reveal the identity of my confederate?
Jean: Because they'd put you on the rack, crack your every bone, scald you with hot oil, and remove the nails off your fingers with flaming hot pincers.
Hawkins: I'd... like to withdraw the question.
Question: When Griswald knocks the helmet off Hawkins and it appears his head is knocked off, you can actually see a face in the helmet on the ground. But why? Hawkins is supposed to be hiding his head in the armor. So why did the filmmaker put a face in the helmet after it was knocked off?
Answer: I watched the clip on YouTube, stopping and rewinding it, but I cannot see what looks like a face inside the helmet. Maybe it's just the way light and shadows are reflecting on the metal.
raywest ★
You can see it as the helmet flies to the ground. Try slowing the video down if that helps. I can't say this is the reason, as I haven't done any research, but if I had to venture a guess, the helmet needed something to sit on so that it wouldn't fall off the armour early. They probably needed a mannequin strong enough to survive the horses' jerking around, but weak enough that the mace could decapitate it.